Constitution Party Talk Radio - 20180502

The Fear Factor

(NOTE: I original wrote this article in 2012, but the truth of the principles are still valid.)

When, oh when, will we have the courage to take a stand on principle and not cave in to fear?

How many of you have either heard or said, “I don’t particularly like Romney, but I’m going to hold my nose and vote for him to keep Obama from winning!”? Or heard or said, “Any one but Obama!” OR “Any one but Quinn!”; Or heard or said this one: “I believe in what you are doing, but wait until after the November elections to build the Constitution Party. We must unseat Obama!”??

Instead of the Republican or Democrat parties giving us candidates that we can “VOTE FOR,” they give us candidates we “MUST VOTE AGAINST!” For those of you from Illinois, remember the gubernatorial election of 2006. The Democrats gave us Rod Blagojevich (already known to be under investigation), and the Republicans gave us Judy Barr Topinka.

So, this whole FEAR MONGERING THING is nothing new.

Every 2/4 years we hear the same ole rhetoric and of course most of them add “I believe in what you are doing” so that they don’t sound like they don’t believe in “democracy.” And every 4 years we are given the same old dog & pony show and then because neither of the wings of the two-party-duopoly can give anyone worth voting FOR, they keep the fear mongering alive to have to “VOTE AGAINST” someone. Those of us, who have been in this fight for more than a few years, have heard this mantra (and its many variants) over and over.

-2004-

In 2004, I was told, “Wait till after the November elections. I believe in what you are doing, BUT, we MUST vote for Bush because we can’t afford to have John Kerry win.”

I was listening to a radio talk show called “Janet Pashall’s America” and she was interviewing David Barton, of “Wall Builders.” (Now remember, the 2004 two-party-duopoly presidential election was between George W. Bush and John Kerry.) When I first started listening (I didn’t catch the very beginning), David was talking about the necessity of voting on principle and NOT OUT OF FEAR. As I was driving down the road, I was yelling, YES! YES! YES! Until he said that the principle he was talking about was to vote for Bush to keep Kerry from winning.

“W-H-A-T-?-?” Voting for Bush to keep Kerry from winning is voting on principle and NOT out of fear??

I was dismayed and I immediately pulled over to the side of the road so that I could call in. It was an hour show and it was somewhere around a quarter after. Amazingly (as this was a nationally syndicated show), I got through and the screener asked me what I wanted to talk about. Now I had to think about what I was going to tell the screener, I didn’t want to tell an untruth, so I said, “I wanted to commend David Barton on his position about “voting on principle and not out of fear.” I guess I wasn’t all that convincing because the screener asked me what my take was on it…. Now, I knew I was trapped so, I told him, “I want to know, WHY, if Mr. Barton believes in ‘voting on principle and NOT out of fear’ would he not support someone such as Michael Perutka, who actually upholds the Constitution and the values that he represents??”

Well, you know I was never allowed to ask that question on the open air. HOWEVER, they most definitely saw the question that I had and the coming back from their last commercial break, Janet Parshall asks David Barton, “Well, David, there are other good candidates outside the Republican and Democrat parties. What are your thoughts about supporting one of them?”

Up to this point, Mr. Barton was speaking matter-of-factly. He literally raised his voice (I’d call it yelling) saying, “A THIRD PARTY WILL SPLIT THE VOTE!! THIS IS A MATTER OF GOOD VERSES EVIL!! A THIRD PARTY CANDIDATE WILL ENSURE THE WIN OF THE EVIL PERSON, JOHN KERRY!”

While I won’t say that I was shocked, I will say that I was somewhat surprised by his vehemence. Here it was, pushing the mantra, “Vote on PRINCIPLE; NOT out of FEAR!!” I couldn’t believe how quickly and easily it was for him to abandon everything thing that he was just saying about voting on principle and literally say, “WE MUST VOTE OUT OF FEAR TO KEEP THE EVIL MAN FROM WINNING.”

That was my first time being involved in a presidential election and I suspect, what I heard in 2004, was the same thing that others have been hearing from time immemorial.

And of course from the Liberal side of the isle there was Michael Moore’s movie “Fahrenheit 9/11” pushing the fear of voting for Bush.

-2008-

In 2008: I was told, “Wait till after the November elections. I believe in what you are doing, BUT, we MUST vote for McCain, because we can’t afford to have Barak Obama win.”

My heart broke in 2008 after a “Christian” organization (that James Dobson was a predominant member of) came to the Constitution Party Executive Committee that was being held in Council Bluffs, Iowa (in the fall of 2007), swearing that if John McCain wins the Republican nomination, they would support our presidential candidate. When it came time to take a stand, they buckled under fear and actually endorsed McCain.

-2012-

Now, I am being told, “Wait till after the November elections. I believe in what you are doing, BUT, we MUST vote for Romney, because we can’t afford to have Barak Obama win.”

There is so much fear this year that the Republicans, having learned from Michael Moore, produced their own fear mongering version “2016: Obama’s America” to push THE FEAR FACTOR to its maximum level. (Anyone seen it that wants to comment?)

Just a few short days ago, I got an email that stated (and I quote):

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“Today I heard of a Congressman in VA who is running as a 3rd Party Candidate for the Constitution Party and is at 7% in the polls. Please contact your party leadership ASAP and let them know: THIS MUST STOP IMMEDIATELY! = = = = =

He further said:

= = = = =“… Please stop this campaign now. We cannot survive four more years of Obama. Go see 2016: Obama's America, then tell me that this 3rd party…is in our nation's interest. I don't think so.”

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Believe me when I say that I wrote a strong response. Disappointingly, he didn’t have the courage to respond to the issues that I brought up, he merely forwarded my response on to others saying “See?? I told you!”

SADLY, nothing has changed other than the fact that it is getting worse. They, BOTH the Republicans and the Democrats, are just getting better at the fear mongering. They have to, because the fact is that the candidates just keep getting worse and worse, from both sides of the isle.

I will say this, though, the person who forwarded on my comments to his demand to “stop immediately,” did NOT receive the response that he expected from a Tea Party leader who has had enough. Here’s what they wrote in response to his forwarding my comments on:

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“Both parties have ruined this country and the opportunities for the people. And Americans keep voting them in. The two parties have too much control and I hope the business man, Romney, running for the seat of the President of this country can change it around.

We must all work together to make that happen but... if it does not work out in our favor, I wouldn't put the loss on the shoulders of the Constitution Party but rather on the shoulders of the parties that have been making all the calls for a 100+ years.”

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While I don’t entirely agree with the sentiment expressed in support of Romney, this response is very encouraging!! I have a strong hope and expectation that once this election is over that there are several who will not simply go back to hiding under the same old rock that they have been using for protection for so many years and will join us to topple the two-party-duopoly.

SUCCUMBING TO FEAR

While not specifically dealing with the issue of succumbing to voting for the “lesser of two evils,” recently, the Ontario Court of Appeals made the following statement in dealing with the issue of giving way to fear.

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“The rule of law must prevail even in the face of the dreadful threat of terrorism. We must adhere to our democratic and legal values, even if that adherence serves in the short term to benefit those who oppose and seek to destroy those values. For if we do not, in the longer term, the enemies of democracy and the rule of law will have succeeded. They will have demonstrated that our faith in our legal order is unable to withstand their threats."

(Sadly, this statement comes from an appeals case in which the U.S. was involved, trying to extradite a Canadian Citizen, from Canada and Canada took a much higher road in the case than the U.S., which is and has been involved in violating the Geneva Convention, American Citizen’s Constitutional Rights, and human rights in general.)

THE TAKE AWAY FROM THIS:

My paraphrase of what the Canadian Supreme Court Judge said

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We must adhere to our values and our principles, even if that adherence serves in the short term to benefit those who oppose and seek to destroy those values (EVEN WHEN THERE SEEMS TO BE SOME ONE “LESSER” OF AN EVIL!).

For if we do not, in the longer term, the enemies of our Constitutional Republic and our values will have succeeded. They will have demonstrated that our faith in God and in the values that made this country great is unable to withstand their efforts.

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While I will concede that succumbing to the fear factor and voting for the lesser of two evils may seem to slow the destruction of our country in the short term. The fact is that in the long term, NOTHING WILL CHANGE!

HOWEVER, I HAVE HOPE AND I AM ENCOURAGED!!

#1 – I am confident that I am fighting the battle that I have been called to fight. Further, I have no doubt that I am fighting this battle from the only perspective that has the opportunity to not only slow this train down, but to change the direction in which it is headed.

#2 – I am seeing a paradigm shift this year, where I have seen none previously and I believe that there are those who are tired of being shafted and are ready to join us in the fight. (I believe it is an even greater shift since Trump got elected in 2016)

#3 – People are looking for a hero. Just look at all the movies, books and songs that have been written about people who have stood, when no others will stand.

AMERICA IS LOOKING FOR HEROES, WILL YOU BE ONE OR WILL YOU SUCCUMB TO FEAR?

WILL YOU HAVE THE COURAGE TO STAND, WHEN ALL OTHERS AROUND YOU FALL??

This means that you not only have the obligation to vote on/for/with principles, but YOU MUST JOIN IN THE FIGHT!